1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to affiliate programs for commercial web sites. In particular, the present invention relates to an affiliate manipulation system and method to maximize the use of available Internet affiliate programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many commercial Internet web sites offer incentives for others to provide links to their sites. The links provide an opportunity for the referring web site to earn a commission on a resulting sale. These programs are often identified as affiliate programs. The referring sites are affiliates. Affiliate programs provide a way for linked web sites and competing companies to work together for a mutual benefit. The referring web site, or affiliate, is credited a commission for the sale, and the seller, or primary merchant, receives a sale from a buyer who was not originally shopping at the seller's web site. This is a win-win situation for all parties. However, the affiliate process is not used nearly as often as it could be. There are several reasons for this. The first reason is that the seller may require the affiliate to register in advance to receive an identification code (affiliate code) by which the affiliate's referrals, and commissions, can be identified. Second, many programs require special dedicated software downloads, patches or applets to function. Often, this requires that the user's computer has a particular web browser or computer capabilities to operate the specialized software or that the affiliate has special software. These requirements are unnecessarily burdensome on the user and his equipment. Another reason for underutilization of affiliate commissions is that many buyers go directly to the larger, primary web merchant, seller or manufacturer, eliminating the middlemen and the opportunity for commissions. In these situations, the affiliate programs are not used at all.
To maximize affiliate commissions, it is preferable treat each sale as a sale through an affiliate party who is entitled to the commission. The system and process may be operated remotely by the seller or another intermediary or central party, such as an Internet service provider (ISP) or a search engine operator. Any software, hardware or other concerns would be handled at the central party. Thus, the buyer and other parties would not need special equipment or software.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for an affiliate program system that does not require the user or buyer to have or maintain additional dedicated or specialized software or computer capabilities, that automatically established affiliate relationships, and that allows a buyer, referral party or a central party to receive the commission for a sale.